Catalonia. Re-thinking the political-institutional architecture of the EU

The Catalan crisis has a whiff of the Spanish civil war, proportion wise. Rajoy government’s serious mistakes in managing the crisis of the independence referendum are due to the fact that Spain does not have a far-right party (like most other western countries); this political trend is completely integrated into the classic right-wing party, Mariano Rajoy’s People Party. Thus, instead of managing with finesse, the Catalans’ unconstitutional inclinations of independence have been treated frontally in a violence resulting in radicalisation. Catalans will soon have no choice but to be independantists or traitors to the cause, whilst the majority is in reality autonomist and expects Madrid to lower down the tension.

The EU which has pushed forward a Europe of the regions, most certainly with an intention to weaken the national level, is once again faced with the inconsistency of ideological strategies it does not even have the power to implement. The EU is and remains for the moment a Europe of nations whose decision-making and political systems are entirely in the hands of the Member States. This EU is therefore quite incapable of assuming the extremes which attracted the fiercest with promises of regional strengthening. This EU will not be able to promise Catalonia, or Scotland or any other region, automatic integration if secession occurs…